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SILGA exec touts August gabfest

An executive member of the Southern Interior Local Governments Association (SILGA) dropped by Osoyoos council Monday to tout the organization and its annual convention next month.

Three council members are already planning to attend the convention: Mayor Sue McKortoff and Councillors Mike Campol and Carol Youngberg.

“It’s not a huge expense,” said McKortoff in an interview today. “It’s in Revelstoke. We drive up there. It’s a three-day meeting. There are quite a few interesting topics and it’s a good way to meet with the other people that are in our area.”

Penticton city councillor Helena Konanz and her 13-page PowerPoint presentation told council the reason that SILGA exists is to represent each community in the region and “provide a strong and effective voice on common issues and regional initiatives.”

SILGA holds six meetings a year at various locations around the region. And it holds an annual convention, which happens late next month in Revelstoke.

For the most part, SILGA is focused on lobbying provincial cabinet ministers at the fall Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) convention. Just like all the other jurisdictions in the province, it schedules four or five meetings with cabinet ministers to plead its case around various issues.

Konanz said in an interview that, aside from the UBCM minister meetings, “we will send out letters to ministers.”

She conceded that “it can be a challenge to find common issues.”

Her presentation to council looked back on 2017 when SILGA “maintained pressure with the provincial government on the quagga and zebra mussel fight.”